DELICIOUSLY ELLA THE PLANT-BASED COOKBOOKThis new cookbook brings together all Deliciously Ella’s best recipes over the last six years, and their most requested recipes from the Deli – like the almond Victoria cake, green Thai curry, baked sweet potato falafel, peanut butter slices, and the most requested deli recipe, their famous cornbread (all of which we have made and remade from the book). This new book is by far my favourite of her four books. You can see how much she and her team have evolved and grown over the last six years. She started her food blog in 2012 to journal her path to wellness from an autoimmune disease through eating good whole foods. Her genuine love and enthusiasm for simple, tasty, plant based eating, and the growing realisation that the key to good health is in nature, brought her on an incredible journey to where she is today. Since then she has written four cookbooks, built recipe aps, opened London based delis, launched a variety of widely available food product ranges, and qualified as a yoga teacher!

I love how the book is so easy to navigate. Rather than the traditional breakfast, lunch dinner chapters it is divided into the main categories of plant based eating – salads, falafels, burgers, soups, stews and curries . Recipes don’t need to be boxed into certain times of the day. They can be lunch, they can be dinner and they can even be breakfast (there is also a separate breakfast section at the front). When I’m planning out my food prep for the week it usually consists of a big pot of beanie hotpot for the weekend, soups for after school lunches, a two day batch of either falafel or burgers with salads, and a two day batch of either stew or a curry. With Friday as our wild card day where I take requests and reserve the right to decline the request!

Their philosophy is to eat real food with uncomplicated recipes using easy to find ingredients – making it accessible to take their amazing plant based recipes beyond their delis, books and aps, and onto our dinner table. We visited their Weighthouse Street deli on a recent trip to London and I have to say it was one of the highlights of our trip!

Ella’s new book is widely available in any good bookshop, online at Amazon, Dubray and Eason.

THE RICH ROLL PODCASTThis podcast is one of my favourite podcast. It is one of the worlds most highly acclaimed podcasts with over 45 million downloads. It has been running since 2013 and already has nearly 400 episodes ready and waiting for you to browse through. For those who haven’t encountered Rich Roll yet you are in for a treat. He is a plant based ultra-endurance athlete, wellness leader and entrepreneur with a focus on living an authentic life, focusing on health span not life span, and building inclusive communities. He is a complete gent and has admirable interviewing skills, which affords him to effortlessly gets the best out of each carefully chosen guest, each with a life lesson to share in every episode. He has a wide variety of guests, including some of the most progressive thinkers in the field of wellness. The episodes are long format which give Rich the space to delve deep into the inspiring topics. This is the perfect example of how podcasts have come into the forefront as a platform to keep yourself educated, informed and inspired by the most current research from the most brilliant minds.

FOUR SIGMATICLike many others I’ve tried my fare share of the latest superfoods. Some with well founded health benefits, and others nothing above what you’d more easily and affordably get with fresh fruit and veg. The humble mushroom is one of the world’s most nutrient-dense food. It goes beyond being just a superfood, it is also an adaptogen, which means it adapts to your needs. They are incredibly powerful and are, until recently, misunderstood and underutilised. Four Sigmatics philosophy is that ‘your life quality can be vastly improved by simple dietary tweaks’, and this can easily be achieved through the addition of functional mushrooms. Their aim is to simplify the world of functional mushrooms into something we all love – a hot cuppa!

Their product range is broken down into Mushroom Coffees, Mushroom Elixirs, Mushroom Hot Cacaos and superfood blends. Their main mushroom are chaga (the king of mushrooms), reishi (the queen of mushrooms), cordyceps, and lion’s mane.

Chaga are high levels of vitamins and minerals, is antioxidant and antiviral, liver supporting, skin supporting, and are also being research for their support for various forms of cancer. Chaga contains significant levels of Melanin. Melanin protects the skin from solar, wind, and other environmental stressors.

Cordyceps is documented over and over again to improve the performance levels and recovery time for athletes due to its ability to enhance aerobic capacity. Cordyceps also benefit oxygen consumption, normalizes immune function, and supports the liver and kidneys.

Lion’s Mane is antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, immune supporting, enhances cognitive function and neurogenesis – the growth of fresh new brain cells. Our digestive system and brain are connected by an extensive network of neurons. Lion’s Mane molecular compounds enhances this connection between the two.

Four Sigmatic are available in The Hopsack and some select health shops. You can also order direct from their website and see the full range of their products.